Bosworth

The Archaeology of the Battlefield

Richard Mackinder

• Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9781399010559
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: Social Sciences

"An intriguing addition to the history of Bosworth battlefield, clearly based on painstaking research and beautifully illustrated throughout." — Leicestershire Historian
The Wars of the Roses came to a bloody climax at the Battle of Bosworth on August 22 1485. In a few hours, on a stretch of otherwise unremarkable fields in Leicestershire, Richard III, Henry Tudor and their Yorkist and Lancastrian supporters clashed. This decisive moment in English history ought to be clearly recorded and understood, yet controversy has confused our understanding of where and how the battle was fought. That is why Richard Mackinder's highly illustrated and personal account of the search for evidence of the battle is such absorbing reading. Mackinder shows how archaeological evidence, discovered by painstaking work on the ground, has put this historic battle into the modern landscape.
Using the results of the latest research, Mackinder takes the reader through each phase of the battle, from the camp sites of the opposing armies on the night before, through the movements of thousands of men across the battlefield during the fight and the major individual episodes such as the death of the Duke of Norfolk, the intervention of Lord Stanley and the death of Richard III.
At each stage he recounts what happened, where it happened and what physical evidence has survived. A vivid impression of the battle emerges from the narrative which is closely linked to the landscape that was fought over on that fateful day.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Book Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface Looking at the Evidence – Drafting a Hypothesis
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Routes to the Battle
• Chapter 2 Henry’s Camp
• Chapter 3 The ‘Battle’ Before the Battle
• Chapter 4 Richard’s Camp
• Chapter 5 To Battle
• Chapter 6 The Opening Salvoes
• Chapter 7 The Death of Norfolk
• Chapter 8 Preparing to Charge
• Chapter 9 Richard’s Charge – Stanley’s Opportunity
• Chapter 10 The Death of Richard
• Chapter 11 Percy, Earl of Northumberland
• Chapter 12 The Immediate Aftermath
• Chapter 13 An Alternative Interpretation
• Chapter 14 Understanding the Roundshot
• Chapter 15 Eliminating the Options
• Chapter 16 A Self-guided Trail Around the Key Areas of the Battle of Bosworth, 1485
• Chapter 17 Areas for Future Research
• Appendix I Potential Related Finds from the Portable Antiquities Scheme
• Appendix II A List from the Bosworth Finds Classed as True Battle Finds
• Appendix III A List from the Bosworth Finds Classed as Possible Battle Finds
• Appendix IV Lists of ‘Lead Spheres’ over 7g in Weight or 12mm in Diameter
• Bibliography and Sources
• Index
• Back Cover